defense secretary leon panetta is in london this morning. he said this morning that u.s. officials are quote, woulding around the clock to assure the safe return of our citizens, bill. bill: throughout this ordeal we have heard this could be tied to what is happening with the french in the neighboring country of mali. now is that true or can we dismiss that now, james? >> reporter: no, i think it is undeniably a fact are to. the group that carried out the original assault on the bp complex is called the masked brigade. they are based in mali and are an offshoot of al qaeda. islamist terrorists took over the northern half of mali some nine months ago making it the largest terrorist safe may have in the world. france just dispatched 2500 troops to mali. speaking in italy yesterday, secretary panetta said the u.s. decimated al qaeda's leadership then he added a important qualification. >> there are still a threat. they're a threat in yemen. they're a threat in somalia. they're a threat as we speak in mali. aqim is part of al qaeda. so we still have a challenge to confront te